


Exclusive interview | Zhang Yixing: I like the trainees’ swagger on stage, and their humbleness off stage even more

by Hornet394



Category: EXO (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Interviews, M/M, Official article, Pengpai, Translation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 15:02:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14114910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hornet394/pseuds/Hornet394





	Exclusive interview | Zhang Yixing: I like the trainees’ swagger on stage, and their humbleness off stage even more

Taken from [Pengpai](http://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2030607)

**Exclusive interview | Zhang Yixing: I like the trainees’ swagger on stage, and their humbleness off stage even more**

_ Original 2018-03-17 | Written by Yang Qian _

 

Dazzling lights, the beats of the music blasting into your ears. What is louder than the music are the large groups of girls sitting in the spectator’s stands, their bodies leaning forward, carrying emotions, anticipation, and adoration in their gazes as they shout and cheer their support. In the filming venue of “Idol Producer”, you need to “shout” to talk with the person next to you. As the Nation’s Producer, Zhang Yixing walks out amidst the shouting and crying. This day, he is not the center of the stage, but the endorser, the introducer of the row of fresh and inexperienced boys on stage.

The last team performing includes a few of the quite popular trainees of the show, and by looking at the girls underneath the stage, raising their banners, it seems that these trainees already have the capability of debuted idols. The votes they get and the amount of fans they have is the perfect proof. Zhang Yixing walks to the side of the stage, yet suddenly becomes solemn. “I just noticed a problem. Before the performance started, the director already shouted ‘1, 2, 3, start’, yet there was still someone saying into the mic ‘check, yo yo yo’. This is very impolite. If you are already on standby, it means you should have already entered the state of mind of a performance.”

He once mentioned in his autobiography that during the time with his group, he believed that he was just someone that put in sufficient hard work. Long legs, appearance, dancing, singing - he would always find someone better than him in these areas. Yet his hard work did not go to waste. For instance, if there was an individual solo part suddenly added into the performance, the other members would say trustingly, “Xing, you go.” This allowed him to get a sense of accomplishment, that he had did enough for himself.

After returning to China, even though he received the rare chance to have the right to open up his own studio and be the boss, the attitude and personality that he had nurtured previously persisted. Zhang Yixing believes his strengths is maybe that he is more hard working than others, good at appreciating other people’s strengths, and humbling himself. After the exposure of the variety show “Go Fighting”, “Little Sheep” is what most people think of him.

However, starting from the first episode of “Idol Producer”, Zhang Yixing seems to have been transformed completely. He is serious and harsh, and he does not go easy on his gradings and comments, shocking everyone. Zhang Yixing doesn’t think these two personalities show a conflict. Everytime he is dissatisfied, it is related to the lack of humbleness, lack of politeness, and lack of hard work from the trainees. “It is not that I don’t value singing and dancing. But, if you ask me to be the PD, these are the things I will focus on.”

“Hard work” is the frequent term that Zhang Yixing always repeats. His weibo handle is also “work hard, harder, and even harder”. This day he had to film the program, he had just flown to Shanghai from Beijing and then was driven for a few hours to the filming site. After filming, he would have dinner and then would have to take a flight to Ukraine on the same day. This is his 24-hour schedule, and is the microscopic view of almost all of his schedules in the 365 days of the year. For the whole of 2017, there has hardly been a day that was dedicated to rest. Zhang Yixing makes fun of himself and jokes, “My name is Lay, after all.” _(T/N: Lay sounds the same as the word “tired” in Chinese)_

It is not like he does not know what weariness means, Zhang Yixing says. “It’s really tiring, but when I don’t want to do it anymore, I think, do I want to improve? I ask this a few times, the answer is yes. Then do it.”

In the end, what is all this hard work for?

“Recognition”. This is Zhang Yixing’s answer for himself. “I’ve been asking myself the whole time, Zhang Yixing, what are you living for? The answer I gave myself at the end is that I want to gain everyone’s recognition. This is why I do one thing after another.”

Recalling the trainee period that was extremely important to him, Zhang Yixing’s impression is that at first, he was brimming with confidence, and then he was crushed, “My whole being was shattered”, and then he rebuilt his own self-evaluation from scratch.

His early confidence had come from the smooth journey into becoming a trainee. He wasn’t slim as a kid. His father was a vocalist and his mother was a crazy fan of Michael Jackson. In front of his family and relatives, Zhang Yixing would be allowed to stand on the bed, dancing to “beat it!” dramatically, and be the spotlight of the whole family’s joy. After he got a bit older, he participated in “Star Academy”. He learnt the piano and music theory, and developed the idea of wanting to sing forever.

“A lot of people gave me recognition blindly. Other people all said I was good, I never heard voices that said I was bad.” After being selected by the company and becoming a trainee officially, Zhang Yixing was more excited than anything. He had support from his friends, the pride of his parents, but he didn’t know what was needed to be an idol.

Once put into comparison, he discovered that he seemed weaker than everyone in all aspects, but the company’s training was very lax. There wasn’t even anything memorable from that time period. It was the first time he had left home, and then the coincidental fighting incident happened. After that, because of his visa problem he couldn’t leave the country. He suddenly realized that if he didn’t work hard, he wouldn’t have anymore chances. In this process, Zhang Yixing gradually lost the certainty he had in himself. It was a time when his whole being crumbled. He did not know where to start with himself.

Later, after returning to the company, Zhang Yixing showed his mother him wringing sweat out of a T-shirt in a video call with her. “Mum, I really worked hard, if (my dream) doesn’t come true, don’t blame me.”

It is this hard work, to the extent that he wrings sweat out of his shirts everyday, that gives him the feeling of being grounded. In the end he accepts how he had rebuilt himself, and even when his career is smooth-sailing, he cannot change his pursuit of being grounded in this way.

“Even when things are going exceptionally well, I still keep torturing myself. It’s going well for you, right? Maybe tomorrow it won’t be good. I keep pressuring myself like this. Of course, this is not a good method, I don’t want other people to learn from this.”

The interview takes place backstage of “Idol Producer”. Upon entering the resting room for the artists, Zhang Yixing is talking with a friend, and the staff member notifies us and asks if we could wait for a while until they are done. After hearing this reminder, Zhang Yixing immediately turns around. “There’s no need for the wait, there’s no need for the wait, we weren’t talking about anything urgent.” He turns around again to get a chair for the reporter, then hands over a bottle of water before sitting down with a peace of mind.

When touching on questions about popularity, internet trends, fans - questions that a lot of popular young celebrities try their best to avoid - Zhang Yixing is truly more honest in comparison, he does not avoid the so-called sensitive areas at all.

Towards the phenomenon in which the more fans an idol has, yet, the more they would be considered as lacking talent, Zhang Yixing sighs and sighs. “The other day I was discussing this with teacher Li Ronghao, as long as you are an idol, a trending artist, with a tiny bit of internet trends, you will be labelled as being untalented. When I chat with a lot of people I say, I make my own music, I compose by myself. Others will say, ‘Hey, don’t pull my leg.’ I really make my own music! I’ll show you my tracks, and others will say, ‘Really?’ This is combined with my state of mind, that as long as the terms used are “internet trends”, or “young celebrities”, _(T/N: Literal as “little fresh meat”)_ people will think they don’t have much to them.”

Idols inadvertently get asked the reason as to why they have so many fans, and how to face their expectations. Zhang Yixing uses a trainee as an example. “The other day, Zhu Zhengting asked if he was handsome or not. I said, you’re handsome, you’re handsome, you all are handsome. He didn’t know whether he should have confidence, or where his confidence should come from. The biggest error is that, when I just debuted I would think, Zhang Yixing’s hairstyle is the most handsome like this. Actually, no one thought it was good-looking, but there’s no other way, you need to think you are confident with this hairstyle. Actually, to fans, you are Zhang Yixing so they will like you, it is not because of the reasons you think of.”

One point that his fans like to emphasise that they like about him is his improvement in acting, as it proves his hard work. Zhang Yixing has a personality that always reminds himself to “be able to face others”. This is the base line upon he talks about any work - it is that he can accomplish his fans’ expectations. “Acting was very much a huge accident, but as long as one person gives me recognition, I will try my best to perform in this area to the best of my abilities. Including Bo-ge, he also said that ‘you’re good, you kid’. He, as such an artist, gives me this evaluation. My performance should be able to match his trust.”

There are 3 more years until he reaches 30, this number deals Zhang Yixing with a huge blow. “Can you imagine? I’m already 27!” It is not an age crisis, or a popularity crisis, but a crisis of how long he is able to work hard for. After a few cries of “my god”, Zhang Yixing calmly accepts the fact that he can’t stop. “Don’t they say that there should not be any regrets in your youth? First, you use all your time wisely. To be frank, sometimes I think to myself, whether I should work harder, or should I stop here and rest for a while. Schedules like this for 365 days in the year has left me no time to breathe. Yet, I then think, do you want to do well? If you do, then go. I can’t let myself stop.”

 

**[Conversation]**

 

_ I like the trainees’ swagger on stage, and their humbleness off stage even more. _

 

**Q: You mentioned earlier than you were afraid you didn’t have time to chat with the trainees. Chat about what?**

A: Actually the filming crew chats with them the most. They always thank me, but that only gives me cold sweat. What I can do is share with them my experience, but really, it isn’t me who is working hard, it is the staff that has worked the hardest.

The crew are really amazing, (the trainees’) politeness really touches me. I remember when I first joined shows, I kept calling others “gege” and was always scolded for it. But now, I see that they greet everyone politely, and seeing this makes me happy. Our country is the capital of courtesy, we should be the first ones to have all of these manners. Yet, we have slowly neglected this aspect. After we have good manners, we can then become closer to others the first time we meet one another.

**Q: Is this more important than singing?**

A: I personally value this. You asked me to be the PD, and this is what I value. I like the trainees’ swagger on stage, and their humbleness off stage even more.

**Q: Have you talked to them about this?**

A: No, but I don’t think I need to talk about these things. You need to know this, the crew here really teaches each trainee with care, so that everyone of them know to be grateful when they go on stage, so that they know this love does not come easily. This is what this show has brought, and these are things they cannot learn elsewhere.

 

_ PD Zhang who seems to have strict demands _ _ , yet who actually cares about trainees’ emotions _

 

**Q: Nowadays, there are a lot of ways of becoming popular. For instance, you just need to be good-looking. Why do they choose the hard way of becoming a trainee?**

A: I actually think that they thought that coming on this show was just for its novelty, but after coming on it, they have had this transformation. Among the trainees, there are those who think ‘I want to practice’, they work hard, but most of them came with the thoughts of ‘the platform is good, the crew is nice, the PDs I know of, everyone’s not bad’. But after coming onto this show, they discover what they lack, and discover that they need to work hard. The value (of coming onto this show) is really too great, and the power it gives to their future is really too great.

You know, the first time I saw them, the impression each of them gave me was, ‘Look at me, I’m good, right?’ Why was I so strict in the first episode? It is because the message everyone gave me was, (imitates trainees’ moves), and I thought ‘ermmmmmm...’ really. But some participants are the type where they take on one level after another like in an RPG, you can’t crush their self esteem too much.

**Q: After being strict, do you think they changed?**

A: The post-90s kids nowadays have really strong individual personalities. Why is it that in our music industry, this kind of music (meaning singing and dancing) has become popular suddenly? The reason is because every youth wants to express themselves.

**Q: To you, what is the meaning and position of a trainee?**

A: Firstly, for meaning and position, I can’t answer you now. Trainee in itself is a new term, a foreign term, but “practice” can bring to you yourself a lot of added value.

**Q: Actually, the natural attributes of some people aren’t as good, are you worried about their future?**

A: I do worry. But I do not worry about their natural attributes not being good, I am worried about them collectively. I remember a trainee said, thank you iQiyi and the filming crew for creating this utopia for me. Yes, in here, it is like a utopia. It is very precious, clean, a utopia that is untainted. But when you truly go outside into society, will you still work hard and fight like you did in this utopia? There is a huge question mark there. This is to be left for themselves (to answer), this is their homework.

Everyone’s existence, everyone’s hard work has its own meaning. I remember a book that said, when an astronaut returns from outer space, his worldviews and values are turned upside down. I believe this change comes from feeling how tiny you are. In the end, these realizations are up to themselves.

**Q: A lot of candidates who are handsome have very high popularity, will it make some trainees think that practicing singing and dancing is useless?**

A: They didn’t bring up this question to me, but they should ask me. I would give them good guidance. We are a country with a tremendously large population. As long as you are excellent in one area, you worked hard, you have achievements, someone will see it. Don’t say things like “I don’t look good, my legs aren’t long”. I want to say, are Zhang Yixing’s legs long? Is his dance good? Is he so handsome that he’s out of this world? The answer is no to all of these questions. I only have hard work, to make myself better in each area. If you insist on putting these preconditions in front of you, “I’m not good looking”, you will lose. I am most afraid of these, for you will go into a zone of error. Things like these are counter-productive. On the contrary, don’t think so much. If I am not handsome, that’s okay, I’ll dance. Who knows, maybe the handsome people will come learn how to dance from you. I hope the trainees come ask me about these basic things, but they have not asked me.

**Q: Compared to your own trainee life, are theirs much easier?**

A: Not really, it’s about the same. If the schedule I know is correct, it should be about the same. The filming crew have already created a very excellent environment. ‘For just four months’, I tell them, ‘The duration is not long, but if these four months are used well, it will give you infinite energy and possibilities in the future’. Everything is up to them, how they plan ahead. All we can do is create the environment and guide them.

 

_ Artists also need to make a living, needs to combine art with commercial _

 

**Q: You have mentioned earlier that you want to be an artist. How do you understand the concept of a pure artistry?**

A: It is that everything is done thoroughly, and is done well.

**Q: In an environment without (monetary) benefits, what degree of an artist do you want to achieve?**

A: Recognition. I have always asked myself until now, Zhang Yixing, what do you live for? The answer I gave myself in the end, the answer of the end of 2017, is that I want everyone’s recognition, and that is why I do one thing after another. This is because as I was small, a lot of people gave me recognition blindly, so once I stepped out into society, my whole being was crushed. Everyone said I was good, I never heard voices that said I wasn’t good. But as soon as I compared myself to others, wow, I am lacking so far behind.

**Q: Does being an artist clash with being an idol? This is a very basic question in the public market.**

A: Now I must talk about something interesting. The other day I was discussing this with teacher Li Ronghao, as long as you are an idol, a trending artist, with a bit of internet trends, you will be labelled as being untalented. When I chat with a lot of people I say, I make my own music, I compose by myself. Others will say, ‘Hey, don’t pull my leg.’ I really make my own music! I’ll show you my tracks, and others will say, ‘Really?’ This is combined with my state of mind. As long as the terms used are “internet trends”, or “young celebrities”, people will think they don’t have much to them. The netizens’ words are actually true, no one can achieve success casually.

**Q: Artistry is also related to the market?**

A: Artists need to make a living too, right? In my opinion, art needs to be combined with commercial, so that the art can be seen by more people, and then become better. A lot of local folk artists stay in the mountain areas, and perform to their fellow townsmen, never leaving once. What to do, then? When someone reaches 30 or 40 years of age, they start seeking a feeling called security, they won’t say that I’ll come out (into the society). In the end, this thing becomes lost, and becomes something that has vanished. So, I think art needs to be combined with commerce to demonstrate its full value.

For instance people say, Zhang Yixing, your dancing is amazing, did you perform the best in this dance? Compare yourself to others, whether you, Zhang Yixing, is recognized, is up to the market to judge.

**Q: What is the motivation of your hard work?**

A: To win myself. This is very important. When can this person in the mirror dance well, so that others will think, wow. This is also competitiveness.

**Q: As a senior, do you feel threatened? I see that a few trainees already have crazy fans.**

A: Before them, I (already) felt threatened. My demands on myself, whether my music was good enough. When collaborating with top musicians, whether or not they will recognize your music, I care about this more.

Did you see the first time I got an award? Really, I have so many songs, but they aren’t released because the company would not allow it. I got this award, I wanted to tell my company I could do it, that I can get the recognition from the market. Half of it was out of rashness.

**Q: The trainees truthfully are not a group, at the end they will debut. However, at the same time, there is the viewpoint that these people will debut and just rely on their youth. As a senior, you have become popular with your group, and then now you have your own studio. So, from debuting as a trainee, at the end you will still become someone who can dance, sing, act professionally. If this is the case, why do you rely on your young age? Why not directly become a singer or artist?**

A: Firstly, as a trainee, as an artist, you want to be popular. No matter what you do, you are right, if you accomplished your goal. But, if from the very beginning you say, I want to be someone, someone with depth, you do not consider this question after you become popular. You need to think about this from the very beginning. For example, as I make my albums, from the very beginning I wanted to make four albums, I wanted to be a musician. I started planning from the very day I went to Korea. Just that, all of my friends who are fans of films, directors, discovered that I could act, this was really... including Bo-ge, he gave me a lot of suggestions. He said “You’re good, you kid”. He, as such a good artist, to give me this kind of evaluation. My performance needs to match his trust.

Translated by @hornet394, proofread by @layshands. Do not repost without permission.


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